Chicago, Cats, and Mondays

This past weekend we took a road trip to the windy city. Matt wanted to run a half marathon along Lakeshore Drive, so we decided to make a weekend out of it. We drove up to the Museum of Science and Industry. 

Ava was a bit whiny, especially toward the end of our time there. We stopped at the gift shop and bought her a ball. I like being the kind of mom that will buy their child a toy in an attempt to end the endless whining….

  Emily and Matt had a fantastic time. Matt could have stayed in the space exhibit all day. Emily loved the genetics area where they had  baby chicks hatching.

Our little vegetarian did not think too much of  the mama pig in a cage feeding her little ones. I thought it was pretty sad too.  She was happy to see the Soy exhibit though.

After a few hours at the museum we went to our hotel to get checked in. We stayed at the Hilton Towers which is just across from Millennium Park. All I can say about Chicago traffic is that it makes me want a stiff drink. All kinds of roads were closed due to festivals making GPS somewhat useless. But we got there and managed to self park to avoid the outrageous cost of having someone park for you. Our room was very nice. It had two bathrooms which is one more than we are used to. We could see the Ferris wheel on Navy Pier from the window in our room.

I sent Matt out for take out from Panera while Ava trashed the room.

We went to bed early so Matt could get up for his race in the morning. I have no idea how people who live in the city sleep. I guess they get used to the noise. I was up every hour or so due to sirens, fireworks, horns and other city noise. Matt was out the door a little after five to catch a shuttle to the start of his race. I thought about going to watch, but getting two kids up at 4 a.m. and putting them on a shuttle and then sitting for two hours while Matt is running is not on my list of what a good wife does. So we stayed behind, ate bagels, and watched cable t.v. Before we headed home we decided to go to Millennium Park to look around. I am so glad we did. It was my favorite part of the trip.

Imagine our surprise, especially Ava's, when we saw this dinosaur walking down the street.

After a quick lunch we headed home. All in all we had a fabulous time and I only yelled at Matt for going the wrong way once.

On the home front, Kramer is still in Emily's room on pain meds. He acts like he wants out of her room though which is an improvement. He is not acting lethargic and in pain like he was. Hopefully he is healing some. I will check in with the vet today. We definitely want to give him some more time to try to heal on his own.

I feel like I need a day to recover from travel, but that is not in the cards. Matt and I both commented this morning that we could use another 8 hours of sleep.

Oh I wanted to mention that I made it though 3 hours of travel, a crowded museum, fireworks, sirens, closed roads, a GPS that thought is was funny to take us on the one of the busiest expressways in the country, and I did not have one drink. What can I say, even I am too cheap to drink the liquor in the mini bar.